(2 / 4)
While Fallen Kingdom makes an effort to take the story in some intriguing new directions, the film disappointingly focuses on a by the numbers conflict and falls prey to the same shortcomings as the previous entry, leading to a mixed experience.
Fallen Kingdom, the follow up to 2015’s colossal box office hit Jurassic World, roared into theaters over the weekend, and with the release come some dino-sized expectations to deliver on more prehistoric action and adventure. Although not flawless, Jurassic World for the most part was able to provide fans of the franchise with thrills reminiscent of the original Jurassic Park even if the characters and overarching themes severely paled by comparison. Fallen Kingdom thankfully makes an effort to avoid falling into the common sequel pitfall of merely providing a bigger, stronger, more ferocious version of its predecessor, and attempts to take the story in some new directions. The film’s unfortunate reluctance to follow through on this initial potential, coupled with being crippled by many of 2015’s Jurassic World’s weaknesses, results in a mixed experience however.
Not too long after the conclusion of Jurassic World which saw the downfall of the technologically advanced theme park, there is upheaval within the U.S. over whether the remaining dinosaurs should be rescued from a catastrophic volcano eruption on Isla Nublar. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who since the last film has gone to great lengths to create a foundation devoted to preventing dinosaur extinction, is contacted by the enigmatic Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), who is revealed to be a former partner with John Hammond in creating the first Jurassic Park. Upon arriving at Lockwood’s mansion, Claire is clued in by Lockwood’s business advisor, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) regarding a plan to rescue the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar and transport them to a new sanctuary that will keep them safe. Due to his expertise with handling Velociraptors, Claire decides to bring in Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), and so the two along with Claire’s associates Franklin (Justice Smith), Zia (Daniella Pineda) and an army of Lockwood mercenaries travel to the forsaken theme park.
Initially, the plan appears to be going smoothly enough with Claire managing to track the dinosaurs and the hired mercenaries navigating the area with Owen to locate his pet Velociraptor, Blue. The plan suddenly goes awry though when the mercenaries are quick to shoot and capture Blue and it is revealed that Lockwood’s aide, Eli Mills, has no intention of keeping the dinosaurs safe and has concocted a scheme to sell the dinosaurs to buyers with a desire to weaponize the creatures. It naturally becomes Owen and Claire’s mission to travel back to Lockwood Manor and put a stop to Mills’ insidious plot before it’s too late.
At the outset the story appears promising, as the moral dilemma of whether or not to save the dinosaurs from extinction is a fascinating question lacking any easy answers or solutions. After the first act, however, the film takes a turn, whereby this question is largely sidestepped in favor of yet another conflict with a mustache twirling corporate maniac plotting to weaponize the prehistoric beasts as a means of financially profiting. The villain Eli Mills, played to smarmy perfection by Rafe Spall, was a poor choice for the main antagonist as his motivation is far too akin to Jurassic World’s villain Hoskins (Vincet D’Onofrio), merely trading an overly trigger happy military man for a greedy corporate sociopath.
BD Wong’s Dr. Wu, who has appeared in the background for several films now as the scientist instrumental in cloning the dinosaurs, would have been a far more effective choice as primary antagonist, as his love for his creations could have shifted the villain’s motivation to be of a more nuanced philosophical nature. A different villain with an almost sympathetic reason for wanting to save potentially dangerous dinosaurs and the opposing side being motivated to prevent this in order to avoid danger would have been a far more intriguing development. As it stands this decision was a hugely missed opportunity. In addition to being a novel concept to explore, it would have tied in nicely with the big questions 1993’s Jurassic Park posed regarding whether man has the right to meddle with nature.
Fallen Kingdom instead makes an effort to further connect itself to the original through a lazy retcon whereby it’s revealed that the creator of the original Jurassic Park, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) had a partner all those years ago in the form of Benjamin Lockwood. Despite not being a fan of rewriting history, especially for classic films, this addition could have been a potent way to raise the film’s stakes, but the character ends up having limited screen time, making his impact on the story minimal at best. The poor execution of this character ends up adding nothing and ultimately cheapens the original Jurassic Park, as Hammond is apparently not the sole mastermind behind the theme park’s inception after all.
The biggest sin the film commits is in the almost caricature like personalities of every character inhabiting this story. We have an unstable mad scientist, narrow-minded army general, free-spirited rugged animal lover, a sociopathic executive, and not a single character that comes off as believable or with any shred of depth. The acting is great across the board, with Pratt’s natural charisma generating some effortless humor in the midst of the catastrophic stakes, as well as newcomer Isabella Sermon as Lockwood’s granddaughter adeptly conveying her palpable terror at the monstrous Indoraptor creation, indicating that the fault with the characters lies in the way they were written. One could make a case that films that are more action driven and focused on survival and saving the world don’t require complex characters and it could almost be a distraction from the action, but this didn’t stop the original Jurassic Park from avoiding cliché riddled characterization. From Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) being bold and almost hedonistic yet the most cautious regarding the cloning of the dinosaurs and the forward-thinking genius John Hammond still managing to be guilty of well-meaning but archaic sexism, these new characters in Fallen Kingdom are a far cry from the multi-dimensional offerings of the original.
Although I have been relentlessly harsh on Fallen Kingdom so far, it is worth noting that the film does manage to get many things right, which will make this entry enjoyable to some degree for many fans. There is a standout sequence in which our heroes are outrunning an active volcano on Isla Nublar, that cleverly manages to up the stakes as in addition to running from the dinosaurs the natural elements are now a potential hazard. Additionally, many perilous occurrences take place at the Lockwood Mansion, and the film skillfully maximizes every inch of that location, generating optimal suspense during these key scenes. One could even make a case that Fallen Kingdom features the most creative action sequences of the franchise, as the above chase scenes top most of the scenes in Jurassic World. That being said, if you struggled with watching the gentle prehistoric beasts suffer in Jurassic World, be warned that this film displays even more cruelty and graphic situations that can be difficult to watch and at times takes away from the escapism of the story.
Full disclosure, despite taking issue with many aspects of the film, the story was never boring for me and despite being disappointed on some level, I still felt as though the requisite colossal spectacle for a Jurassic Park film was satisfied. Fans of the franchise will find aspects of the film to enjoy despite the film squandering the potential to be so much more than it was. It’s worth mentioning that the story concludes on an interesting note that left me eager to see this development be further explored in the almost guaranteed follow up installment. Let’s just hope that the creators take note of the missteps with Fallen Kingdom and be a bit more ambitious in the themes that are explored next time.
